As students solve a problem or address an issue through authentic tasks, they create artifacts or products that demonstrate their learning and understanding. While it is easy (and fun) to create products like comics and book trailers with Wixie, you can move to a more student-centered approach (from projects to PBL), by providing students with a prompt and then asking them to choose which type or response (product or learning artifact) best supports the goals of their work.
What can students choose to create to demonstrate their learning?
As students work to solve a problem (instead of just completing a task), you will want to discuss options for sharing their learning and creating solutions. What might students create to both solve the problem and demonstrate their learning?
Wixie provides tools for students to combine text, paint, imaging, and narration. Working with the tools in this app, students can create:
• book reviews
• how-to instructions
• comics
• book talks or trailers
• ebooks
• letters
• newspapers
• magazines
• journals
• infographics
• brochures
• postcards
• wanted posters
• invitations
• tutorials
• menus
• trading cards
• public service announcements
• documentaries
• docudramas
• interviews
• advertisements
• posters
• virtual tours
• maps and models
• greeting cards
From product to prompt
Many teachers ask their students to design a new book cover as a performance assessment for comprehension about a book they have just read. While this definitely a fun project that provides many opportunities for assessment of student comprehension, it is very much teacher-driven. While students may get to choose which title they will create a cover for, the teacher has told them what to create and has also likely established the criteria for their work, through a rubric or checklist starting with words like, "Your book cover must contain..."
Rather than telling students what to create, provide them with a powerful prompt. For example:
Yikes! Kids aren’t checking books out of the library anymore and our reading test scores are down! How can we get students at our school to read?
Yes, some students may decide they want to create better book covers than the ones they see in the library, claiming that the existing ones are boring and just don't attract students to pick them up. Other students may decide to start a book club for students, design movie-style trailers for titles they think students will enjoy, and more.
What products students create becomes part of their learning process. A prompt like the one above asks students to think about the way they think will best change student behavior. It also asks students to participate in solving a problem.
Making any one of these projects is probably more fun than a worksheet, but transferring responsibility to students to choose how and justify why can mean the difference between having students complete a teacher-directed project or more student-driven PBL.
No matter what you and your students choose to make, happy creating!
PS - If you are looking to inspire students to take action and share their learning in a variety of ways, print and share this Wixie infographic.
